Fridthjof's Saga

XXVI.


“By few the haughty chief is fear’d,
Hated he is by all;
And arrogance by few rever’d,
Is father to a fall.
How many have I seen high soar,
Now on a crutch bent low:
Seasons, not men, the harvest pour,
And heaven’s winds fortune blow.

XXVII.

“When down the setting sun hath sunk,
Then, Fridthjof, praise the day:
Ale may be prais’d, too, when ‘tis drunk;
And, follow’d counsel may.
Found youth on many things for aid
Will trust itself indeed;
But Battle proves the keen sword-blade,
And want, a friend in need.

XXVIII.

“Trust not to night-old ice, or snow
Which some spring day may see,
Or slumbering snakes, or words that flow
Frae th’ girl upon thy knee;
For on a wheel that nothing stills
Is turn’d fair woman’s breast;
And ‘neath those soft white lily-hills
Inconstancy doth rest.

XXIX.

“Down to the grave thyself must go,
And what thou hast, away;
But one thing, Fridthjof, well I know,
Which never can decay, —
That is, th’ unchanging doom decreed
To every dead man’s sprite; —
Will, therefore, every noble deed.
And do thou every right!”

XXX.

His warnings thus have hoary age
In Bele’s kingly hall,
As since the skald whose warnings sage
Yet sound in Hávamál.
From race to race the proverbs go
In pithy sentence forth, —
And deeply, from the tomb below,
Yet whisper in the North.

XXXI.

Thereafter talked the heroes both,
In many a heartfelt tone,
Of their long friendship’s faithful troth
Through all the Northland known, —
And how their true-fast union.
In weal and woe the same
(Like two hands firmly grasp’d in one),
More tight-knit still became.

XXXII.

“Our arms, my son, in danger’s path,
We back to back did wield;
However, then, came the norn’s fierce wrath.
Still struck she ‘gainst the shield.
Before you now, with years bow’d down,
We two to Valhal went; —
But may our spirits, ye children, crown
Each wish, — each step attend!”

XXXIII.

And much and long the king talk’d o’er
The brave young Fridthjof’s worth,
And warrior-might, which always more
Was priz’d than royal birth.
And much and long doth Thorstein praise
The Northland’s high-fam’d kings,
and all that glorious fame whose blaze
From th’ asas-heroes springs.

XXXIV.

“And now, together, as one man,
Hold fast, ye children three;
Your over-match — that know I –can
Our Northland never see!
For Strength, to kingly rank and blood
Indissolubly bound,
Is like the dark blue steel-rim good,
Which flows the gold shield round.

XXXV.

“My last salute fail not to tell
Ing’borg, that rose fresh-blown;
In peace, as it became her well,
Her lovely form hath grown.
Hedge round the fair, let no storm-wind
Come down, in evil hour,
And to his helmet-bonnet bind
My tender blooming flower.

XXXVI.

“Helge! be thou her guardian,
Thyself her father prove!
Ing’borg, my child, my dearest one,
Oh, like a father love.
Constraint revolts the gen’rous soul,
But, Helge, softness leads
Woman and man to virtue’s goal,
Just thoughts and noble deeds!

XXXVII.

“Beneath two barrows, in the earth,
Lay us, ye children dear!
On one each side the billowy firth,
Whose murmurs we may hear.
For pleasant to the hero’s ghost
Resounds the sea’s low song;
Like soft, sad drapas (3) on the coast,
The wavelets roll along.

XXXVIII.

“Pouring pale splendors round the hill,
When bright the moon hath shone,
And midnight dews, all calm and still,
Fall on the bauta-stone ---(4)
Then shall we sit, O Thorstein, there
On our green cairns so round,
And o’er the water’s rush, declare
How coming fates astound!

XXXIX.

“And now, ye sons farewell! — farewell!
Hither no more draw nigh.
With great Allfather shall we dwell; —
We long to be on high,
Like as the wearied flood-streams long
To reach wide ocean’s deep.
And now, Frey guard you, sons, from wrong,
Thor bless, and Odin keep!”